21 September 2001, 12:02am IST
M P K Kutty.
Do you shun a person because he belongs to another caste or faith? do you discriminate between people on the basis of race, ideology or nationality? do you judge others on the basis of their gender, age, status, colour or possessions? what if others discriminate against you on any of these grounds? you feel hurt. you feel pained. it is unjust as well. of all such discriminations, caste distinctions based on birth constitute the gravest assault on human dignity. many in the past have raised their voice of protest against this evil. today the country, particularly kerala, pays homage to narayana guru, who lived during late 19th and early 20th centuries. a social reformer, born of a low caste, he taught people the oneness of the whole human race. born into the ezhava caste, he lived at a time when casteism with its attendant practice of untouchability pervaded society. those days an ezhava could not get closer than 64 feet to a nair who was considered superior to an ezhava in the caste hierarchy. the ezhava in turn, would resent it if any pulaya or pariah -- still lower down in the hierarchy -- got closer than 100 feet to him. no wonder india witnessed so many reform movements against the caste system. sri narayana guru, educated in sanskrit and the vedas, not only preached against the caste system but set up the sree narayana dharma paripalana yogam (sndp) to propagate his ideals. promotion of education among the downtrodden and reformation of religious practices and customs were high on his agenda. in his great endeavour to uplift the downtrodden and give them respectability in society, he had to face severe personal and institutional resistance. his doctrine, "one caste, one religion and one god for men" is justly famous. but the stress on "one religion" did not mean that he questioned the validity of religions other than his own. his effort was to show that all religions had the same goal and enshrined almost similar values allowing no discrimination between one person and another. whichever be the religion, it suffices if it makes one a better person, he held. nationalism and racism based on cultural, linguistic and racially identified groupings, compete closely with religion in separating one person from another. in defence of "imaginary lines" or borders and in attempts to expand their territories, we trundle out our war machines and fill the beautiful earth with violence and blood. it is the most wasteful expenditure of earth's resources and its end, self-inflicted suffering, he concluded. along with tolstoy and other visionaries, narayana guru too held that this planet of ours is rich and generous and if loved and cared for, is well able to provide for all its beings. only greed, fear and ignorance cause us to separate ourselves on the basis of quite superficial differences. they compete and kill instead of letting us joyfully share the gifts and bounty of this beautiful planet. it is, however, doubtful if the long campaign by the guru or others like mahatma gandhi and ambedkar have eliminated the scourge of caste from the indian mind. all of them have become idols to whom society pays lip service. politics of power, elections and elevation of people to positions of prestige and honour in society still hinge upon caste. it is still one of the biggest stumbling blocks in the path of progress and national unity. the recent debate, making a distinction between casteism and racism, on the eve of the durban meet on racism only revealed our lackadaisical attitude and our tendency to gloss over this evil. the founding fathers of america affirmed the equality of man as a basic principle of existence ordained by god. their "declaration of independence" stated as much: "we hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness..." we need that spirit and vision today. narayana guru, by his life and example, spoke for the oppressed. he worked for an egalitarian social order. mahatma gandhi and rabindranath tagore who met him in kerala expressed their admiration for his work. they, too, had laboured to drive home the truth of the equality of man. until we learn to accept and honour one another without considerations of caste, creed or colour, we must consider their labour as incomplete.
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